Senator Tim Kaine speaks about U.S. role in ISIL
MARION, Va.— On a day when many Americans paused to honor fallen veterans, U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine called for Congress to assume a greater role in shaping U.S. policy toward terrorists.
Kaine, D-Va., spoke with the news media Monday while participating in Memorial Day activities in Marion and touring the new Wayne Henderson School of Appalachian Arts. The former Virginia governor serves on both the Senate’s Armed Services and Foreign Relations committees and discussed his vision for the U.S. role regarding the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant [ISIL] and other threats.
He has been a proponent of passing a new Congressional authorization for use of military force against ISIL for the past nine months.
“Congress needs to weigh in. Congress should not allow a president — any president — to start a war without Congress debating; but Congress has shown a lack of backbone,” Kaine said. “We need to debate this war with ISIL. They’re not going away and the events of last week showed the Iraqi security forces are very willing to cut and run.”
Last week, Islamic State troops defeated Iraqi forces at Ramadi. The administration has questioned the “will” of Iraq forces to fight but Iraqi officials blamed poor U.S. equipment, weapons and aerial support.
On Monday, Kaine defended the U.S. policy.
The U.S. can help a region that’s willing to fight for itself but we can’t be a police force for a region that won’t police itself,” Kaine said. “There are other nations that can step up against this terrorist threat that is born and bred there. We’ve got to challenge those nations to fight their own terrorist threats. If they will do it, we should be heavily supporting them but we can’t take over the police function, so there’s a lot to talk about.”
Kaine opposes a proposal to deploy U.S. ground forces into the region to defeat ISIL.
“My question is would it do any good. In the Foreign Relations Committee, we had the King of Jordan, who is a great ally to the United States. He told us that U.S. boots on the ground would be a mistake because it’s not your war — it’s our war.”
The senator said he supports providing air support, training or possibly using U.S. Special Forces
“If there are U.S. boots on the ground, that becomes a recruiting bonanza for ISIL because it’s the west against ISIL. It should be that region battling its own terrorism with American help,” Kaine said. “Except in special circumstances, I think a lot of American ground troops would be counter-productive. You have nations over there — Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Turkey, Iraq — who have a lot at stake in trying to beat this terrorist threat. Saudi Arabia will put military forces in the field in Yemen but won’t put military forces in the field to stop ISIL. We ought to be asking them why. We need to be challenging the nations in that region to step up against this threat.”
Asked about security at home, Kaine conceded Americans should be concerned.
“It’s a very challenging world. Thanks to the men and women who serve, we’re relatively safe but the world is dangerous. Even individuals can do scary things,” Kaine said. “With respect to other nations, I think our security is strong. Even with respect to groups like al-Qaeda and ISIL, I generally think our security is strong but since individuals with even basic technology, it’s not that hard to harm someone.”
The senator also renewed his call for Congress to address provisions of the Patriot Act that are scheduled to expire June 1. Three portions of the act, including one that allows the government to conduct massive sweeps of telephone call records, would expire unless Congress takes some action when it reconvenes in a few days.
“We cannot just let the Patriot Act just expire. I voted for a reform of the Patriot Act that didn’t pass,” Kaine said. “We can’t let those security statutes just expire. We need to take care of some of the problems and reform them. We’re going back early to continue that debate.”
###
